The Story of Iris
by oneweekcoldcat
Summary: After she left the orphanage, Iris thought that life would be nothing but filled with misery.  What she got was a new life altogether.
1. Chapter 1

{This is a Harry Potter fan fiction. I will give you all my fair warnings now. This story will contain: mild to extreme OOC- ness, an OC, a few changed events, and a ragged old stuffed rabbit named Gunther. It will not actually contain Harry Potter himself until MUCH later. Those are my warnings, if you don't like any of those facts, DON'T READ! I do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form, I don't even own any of the books (darn it).}

The Story of Iris

Chapter One

Iris could hear the other kids playing outside. She wanted so badly to join them in their game of tag, but she knew that the chances of getting the padlock on her door unlocked were very small. All Iris could do was sit there, looking out the window of her small bedroom. The orphanage caretaker, Ethel, had locked Iris in her room because Iris had accidentally broken a vase.

"I want to go outside." Iris said to herself quietly, as tears started to form in her eyes. "I didn't mean to make the vase break, I just looked at it." Iris was feeling rather alone, and very sad within the confines of her room. Her only company was a small toy rabbit that she called Gunther. As Iris held onto the little brown toy, she looked around her room. There was an old rocking chair in the corner, a mattress with her ragged blanket and pillow in the other corner, and a hanging rack, that held the few clothes she had, next to the door. There was also a broken mirror against the wall.

Iris walked away from the window and approached the mirror. She the proceeded to examine her reflection. Her long, pale blonde hair was in a very tangled mess, her white dress was very worn and tattered, her feet were bare, because Ethel couldn't afford to get her shoes at the moment. Though, the most striking feature on the ten year old girl, were her big, green eyes. Even though she was crying, one could just see how deeply, forest green they were. Iris's eyes were such a contrast to her pale skin, that it was hard to avoid at least taking a glance at them.

Iris heard footsteps coming towards her room from the hallway. She quickly wiped her eyes dry, and jumped into the old rocking chair just as she heard someone fumbling with the padlock on her door. The padlock clicked, signaling that it was unlocked. The door burst open, bringing in the presence of a large woman with thin, wiry brown hair, beady gray eyes, yellow- ish, old skin, and a nose that looked much like a mushroom. Iris looked up at the woman, whom was Ethel. Ethel was carrying a plate that held half of a sandwich, and a small glass of water.

"Here's your supper, you little twit." Ethel said with a voice that sounded more like nails on a chalkboard than anything else. With that done, she walked out of the room. She slammed the door shut, re- did the padlock, and walked away. Iris waited until she couldn't hear Ethel's footsteps anymore, then she slowly started to eat her sandwich. As she ate, Iris thought about the orphanage.

Ethel's Home for Parent-less Children, that's what the place was called. But it was far from actually being a home. The "home" was nothing more than an old, rickety villa. Nothing in the house was new. Ethel was poor, so that meant that everyone was to make do with what they had. And the only person in the entire house that actually had a last name, was Ethel, no one else had one. Even if at one point you did have a last name, you eventually forgot it. Even Iris didn't have a last name.

Iris didn't remember the day she was brought to the place, and that was because she was abandoned there when she was just a baby. For what was probably the one- millionth time, she thought about what kind of people her parents were, or if they were even alive. She hated living at Ethel's Home for Parent- less Children, and she wondered why her parents would ever abandon her here.

All of a sudden, Iris heard a sound that froze her to the core of her very being. She heard an explosion coming from downstairs in the kitchen. It seemed then, that everything around her fell to dead silence, until the screams from the kids outside started.

"FIRE, THERE'S A FIRE! SOMEONE GET HELP!" Iris heard a boy yelling. Iris froze in terror. She could still hear the other kids screaming, but their screams only made the terror worse for her. Iris knew that the house would burn down quickly because of how old it was. And then a new wave of fear hit her, the door to her room was still padlocked, if she didn't get out of the room somehow, the house would burn down with her still in it. Iris tried to scream, but no sound came out. She got out of the chair and ran to the door, she tried twisting the the doorknob and pushing on the door, but the padlock prevented her from getting out at all. She grabbed Gunther and held on to the toy rabbit.

What should I do? Iris thought to herself. She then saw the window. Holding Gunther tighter to herself, Iris ran over to her window, and opened it. Looking out of her window, Iris remembered that her room was on the second floor of the house, and she had no way down, except for jumping down. Iris turned back around, ready to try the door one more time, when she saw black smoke coming through the bottom of the door. Iris knew then, that the window was her only option.

Iris climbed onto the windowsill, she could see that the kids were gone, probably running to get help, she could see smoke coming from other windows, and then she saw Ethel running out of the house screaming. Ethel didn't even stop, she just kept running farther and farther away. It seemed that Ethel had completely forgotten about Iris.

Iris looked down at the ground below her, she was completely positive that the fall would kill her, but then she heard wood cracking behind her, and she knew that it was her only option. So, holding onto Gunther, Iris closed her eyes, and jumped.

At least, she thought she did.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Iris couldn't feel herself falling, and she was absolutely positive that she had jumped from the windowsill. She slowly opened her eyes, and almost screamed. At that moment, Iris found herself floating in mid- air.

Iris was extremely scared, and very confused. How is this happening? She thought to herself. What's going on? Am I dreaming? Will I be able to get back to the ground?

At that last thought, Iris started to feel herself start to slowly float toward the ground. She was still having rambling thoughts as her feet gently touched the ground. Her legs were shaking as the fact that she was actually floating started to sink in. But then she heard something crash behind her. Iris turned around, and was reminded that the orphanage was on fire.

So, Iris did the only thing that seemed logical. She turned back around, and started to walk away from the orphanage, no longer caring about Ethel's Home for Parent- less Children. Taking Gunther with her, as her only companion.

….

Iris walked for what seemed like hours. She was on a narrow road in the country side. Grass was growing on both sides of the narrow road, and she was walking in the grass because her feet were starting to get cuts on them. The sky had started to get dark when she actually left the town about an hour earlier.

Iris looked down at her little companion, Gunther looked even more dingy and ragged now that he was out of the orphanage. The little brown toy rabbit looked like he was about to fall apart at the seams. Iris looked back at the road, and then to the sky. She realized then just how dark it had gotten. She was tired and hungry, but she wanted to keep going. But in order to do that, she needed light.

Iris would never admit it to anyone, but she was quite afraid of the dark. Her whole life she had been able to put up with the dark because she knew that she was safe inside the orphanage. But now, she was outside with no where to go, and it was now officially night time. As the stars started to shine in the night sky, Iris became more and more frantic. She held on tighter to Gunther as a gust of wind blew the grass to and fro, making a rustling sound, and in turn, causing Iris to jump a few feet.

Her heart started pounding in her chest. She could hear sounds that made the narrow road feel like a nightmare. At every sound she heard, Iris walked a little faster, until she was in a full sprint. She started crying, and became even more terrified. All of a sudden, she tripped over something she couldn't see.

As Iris hit the ground, she dropped Gunther. She started searching for him, but to no avail. She began to cry harder. Iris was just about to give up, when she heard something walking up behind her.

Iris felt her heart stop. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. It was when the thing growled that Iris turned around and put up her hand to try and protect herself. As she put up her hand, Iris was suddenly blinded by a bright light that appeared out of no where, and she closed her eyes. The thing that was come toward Iris started barking and yelping, it too had been blinded. Iris could hear the creature running away from her.

With her hand still out, Iris opened her eyes slowly. The light was still there, but it had dimmed down. She stared at the light for a time before she realized just where it was coming from. Iris was in complete shock, the light seemed to be coming from her, from her hand. She didn't understand. How can I be making light appear in my hand? She thought to herself. Iris moved her other hand, and felt something soft. She turned, and there was Gunther. She picked up the little rabbit with her free hand, and then she stood up.

Iris looked back at the little light in her hand. It had dimmed down even more now. In fact, it was almost gone completely. Iris watched as the little light slowly faded away. She was back in the dark, but for some strange reason, Iris felt completely calm.

And then the strangest thing of the day happened. Iris heard a loud crack. She spun around, just in time to see a very large, purple vehicle pull up next to her. There were doors in front of her, and they slid open to reveal a very old man in a drivers uniform at the steering wheel of the vehicle.

"Welcome to the Night Bus," he said in a very friendly voice, "Were you the one that called us?"


	3. Chapter 3

{I have decided that for creative purposes, I will write different segments of this story in the points of view of other characters. I apologize for any inconvenience that this might cause any of my readers, but it would make things a lot easier on me. Also, this is not the original chapter three. I took down the original and made some minor changes to it to make it sound more like the character. Again, I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. So please leave reviews, and I hope you enjoy this story. As stated before, I do not own Harry Potter in any way; I don't even own any of the books or movies.}

Chapter Three

Minerva McGonagall was on the Knight Bus that night by a complete accidental occurrence. She had been sent to find a young girl who lived in an orphanage in a small, country side town near England. But when she had shown up at the orphanage, there were people everywhere, and the place was on fire. Minerva was very thankful that she had been in her animagus, cat, form. She was able to overhear what had happened to the place. There was an explosion in the kitchen of the orphanage.

This had Minerva very worried. She was supposed to find this child, but now she didn't even know if the girl she was looking for was even alive. She was wringing her hands now. She would start her search again, just in case the child was only missing. But it still made her nervous. She just hoped that a new search would not be in vain.

All of a sudden, the Knight Bus stopped, lurching all of its passengers forward. Minerva was almost flung from her bed, and she had to stand up and straighten herself out. Minerva was about to go lecture the driver, Ernie, when the doors to the bus opened.

"Welcome to the Knight bus. Are you the one that called us?" Ernie asked the through the door. Minerva looked at the driver, he was saying usual greeting out of habit, not even looking at who was at the door. She looked at the door, expecting someone to come in, or say something, but nothing happened. Minerva was wondering whether or not there was actually anyone there, when she heard someone step onto the bus.

It was a little girl. She was extremely skinny, her long, waist length hair was in a tangled mess, but the color was very pretty, it was almost white, her skin was very pale too. She was wearing a knee length, tattered white dress that didn't have sleeves, her feet were bare and they had quite a few cuts on them, and she was holding a brown toy rabbit. Minerva looked more closely at the little girl and saw something that shocked her, the girl had scars on her arms and legs. The girl was a sad sight to see, and it broke Minerva's heart. But what the girl did next shocked Minerva even more. The girl curtsied at Ernie.

"Sir, is this really a bus?" the girl asked Ernie in almost a whisper.

"Of course it is. Why would you ask such a silly question?" Ernie said to the girl, still not looking at her.

"Sir, so does that mean that this bus costs money to ride? I don't have any money Sir." The girl whispered even more quietly. Ernie now looked at the girl.

"Yes, it costs money to ride. How else would we make a living…. in…. this….. are you alright little miss?"

"I'm alright, but it seems that I've wasted your time Sir, I'm really sorry." The girl whispered. She turned around, and was about to leave the bus, but Minerva couldn't just let her go. The girl looked like she didn't even have anywhere to go to.

"Wait." Minerva said. She stood up and walked over to the girl. Minerva looked at her, and she was sure that the girls was looking at her, but her hair was hiding her eyes. Minerva gave the girl a soft smile.

"I'll take care of her fee Ernie. It seems that this poor girl just needs a place to sleep for a short while." Minerva said to Ernie. She turned around, and sat back on her bed, and she motioned for the little girl to take the bed next to her. The little girl cautiously walked over to the empty bed next to Minerva, and sat on the edge of it. She then brushed her hair out of her face and looked at Minerva. Minerva was surprised at the girls eye color, such a beautiful shade of forest green, it was almost a complete contrast to the rest of her appearance. The girl looked at Minerva, with a soft smile on her pale face, she looked so pretty now, and Minerva just couldn't help but smile back.

"Thank you, so much, for helping me." The girl said quietly to Minerva. She was almost startled at how polite this little girl was. The girl was still holding on to her toy rabbit, and she hugged it even tighter. Minerva McGonagall, in all her years, had never met such an interesting child.

"You are most certainly welcome young lady, it was my pleasure." And then she thought of something, "What is your name little miss?" the girl looked at Minerva and smiled again.

"My name is Iris."

"Iris, that's a very pretty name." and then it hit her. Iris is the name of the girl that Minerva was looking for. Minerva looked at Iris again, and she was convinced, this was the girl she was looking for. Minerva had found her, alive.


End file.
